In case you haven’t read the comments regarding the anthill dessert request from Astghik, I am re-posting them, and asking for your thoughts.
The first comment is from Ara:
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| Croquembouche Wedding Cake |
“To me, it sounds more like an Armenian variation of croquembouche. The name implies that the balls of dough are piled up into a “hill”. Maybe using something like bishi instead of the choux a la creme?”
“This is in response to your latest blog post, I entered a comment on both your blog and Facebook page and neither showed up, don’t know if you got it … so this is my last attempt. I’m pretty sure it’s what your reader is looking for.
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| Ant hill dessert – photo from dreamstime.com |
Astghik is talking about “ Tkhvatsk Mrchnapouyn (Gargantag) ”, an Eastern Armenian dessert. Basically it is a cookie dough, either grated or passed through a meat grinder before baking, or baked and then broken into tiny pieces. Once cooled, it is then mixed in with condensed milk or dulce de leche, butter, walnuts, cream, honey and shaped like an anthill ( just as you would shape a Mont-Blanc aux Marrons dessert); then drizzled with chocolate ganache glaze or salted-butter caramel and refrigerated.”
I think you had better not feed Astghik's version to a diabetic LOL
But, seriously, I think have found a recipe for it (in Armenian): http://armmenu.com/menu/?p=2108
Here is the translation:
CAKE "ANTHILL."
Ingredients:
butter – 1 box,
sugar – 0.5 cups,
sour cream, 0.5 cups,
salt,
flour, 4 cups,
cream,
condensed milk – 1 box,
butter, softened, 100g
Ground walnuts [quantity unspecified]
Beat the butter with the sugar. Add sour cream and salt. Stir the flour and knead dough. Pass the dough through a tamis, or leave it in the fridge for an hour, then grate it with a cheese grater.
[Note: Is the dough baked before or after being grated? The recipe does not mention it.]
With the condensed milk and 100 grams of butter, prepare the cream: First, beat the butter then add the condensed milk a spoonful at a time, mixing all the while.
To the grated dough, add the ground walnuts and mix. Shape into a hill and pour the cream on top. It is possible to do this in layers, shaping the dough with your fingers.
Ganache glazing–
50 g butter,
4 tablespoons sugar,
2 tablespoons milk,
4 tsp cocoa
Mix the ingredients and cook until it is foamy. Pour over the cake and place in the refrigerator until the ganache is set.
Variant–
Cook the condensed milk 2-2.5 hours. Let the butter soften, then stir into the condensed milk. Add 2-3 tablespoons honey and mix well while the mixture is warm.
Add the grated dough [and walnuts?] to the mixture and mix well with the fingers. Shape into an anthill and leave in the refrigerator to cool overnight.
Ara, I think you've hit the nail on the head. I hope Astghik is reading the comments so we can find out if this is what she wants!
Robyn
The Armenian web page does have pictures, which help–a little.